Tainan mayor to embark on his first visit to China

TAIPEI -- Tainan Mayor Lai Ching-te (賴清德) will depart for Shanghai Friday on a two-day visit, during which he will open an art exhibition featuring a Taiwanese painter.

The China trip — Lai's first as Tainan mayor — has been organized to promote the southern city, said Chao Ching-huei, head of Tainan's information department.

Lai is the only local government chief from the Democratic Progressive Party who has not yet visited China. Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu, Yilan Magistrate Lin Tsung-hsien, Yunlin Magistrate Su Chih-fen, Changhua Magistrate Chang Hua-kuan and Pingtung Magistrate Tsao Chi-hung have all been to the mainland.

Such visits are significant partly because of the DPP's pro-independence policies.

On Friday, Lai will preside over the opening ceremony of an exhibition of paintings by the late Taiwanese artist Chen Cheng po (陳澄波), at the China Art Museum in Shanghai.